Ratcheting tools, for example socket wrenches and ratcheting box end wrenches, may include a generally cylindrical ratchet gear and a pawl that controls the gear's ratcheting direction so that the gear may rotate in one direction but is prevented from rotation in the other. It is known to dispose the pawl so that it engages teeth either on the gear's inner or outer diameter. It is also known that the size, shape, and method of forming a pawl pocket can have an effect on the functionality of ratcheting tools. Examples of ratcheting tools having a sliding pawl engaging the outer diameter of a ratchet gear are provided in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,230,591 and 5,636,557, the entire disclosure of each of which is incorporated by reference herein.
The present invention recognizes and addresses considerations of prior art constructions and methods and provides a method of forming a pawl pocket for a ratcheting tool with flat surfaces and a tool thereby formed.
In an embodiment of a method of forming an enclosed pawl pocket that is integral with a neck portion of a wrench, the wrench has a handle and a head integral with the handle and defines the integral neck portion between the head and the handle. The head defines a bore having an axis extending between a first side of the wrench and a second side of the wrench. The bore has an opening to at least the first side of the wrench. A keyway cutter has a planar cutting head disposed on an elongated pin having an axis. The plane of the cutting head is perpendicular to the pin axis, and the cutting head has a radius defined in the plane of the cutting head between a center of the cutting head and the outermost edge of the cutting head. The cutting head radius is less than the bore radius.
The keyway cutter enters the bore through the opening in the first side so that the cutting head is in an operating plane that is perpendicular to the bore axis. While maintaining the cutting head in the operating plane, the cutting head is moved into the neck portion along a predetermined path so that the cutting head cuts the pawl pocket into the neck portion. The predetermined path defines at least two flat surfaces on respective opposing sides of the pawl pocket. Each of the flat surfaces defines an angle in the range of about 27 to 35 degrees, and preferably approximately 31 degrees, between a centerline of the pawl pocket and the flat surfaces.
The accompanying drawings, incorporated in and constituting part of this specification, illustrate one or more embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
Repeat use of reference characters in the present specification and drawings is intended to represent same or analogous features or elements of the invention.